Prime Minister Approves 3G Policy in Pakistan: ProPakistani

Prime Minister Approves 3G Policy in Pakistan
Unlike Geo Claims, Blackberry Communication Can’t be Altered
Get up to 100 % Discount on Indigo Line Rent
Qubee Enlightens Lives of Visually Impaired Students
Utrack Business: A New Dimension in Corporate Tracking
Zong Launched Live Web Support

Prime Minister Approves 3G Policy in Pakistan

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 10:36 AM PST

Long awaited approval 3G policy has reportedly been approved by Yousaf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister of Pakistan, reported Express Tribune.

After PM's approval the policy will now be forwarded to Cabinet Committee for the final approval from cabinet, before it's handed over to Ministry of Information Technology for execution.

According to reports, Mr. Gilani chaired this meeting today on 3G, Grey traffic and Additional Spectrum auction for Wireless Local Loop here at Prime Minister's House where it was agreed that new international players as well as existing operators would also be invited for Instaphone license auction being the sixth of the existing licensee in the country and not a new licensee.

Ministry of Information Technology gave a presentation on recommendations formulated by Cabinet Committee comprising Dr. Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Finance, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Water and Power, and Ghos Baksh Mehr, Minister for Privatization and Dr Asim Hussain, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources.

It was decided that three blocks of 10 MHZs each out of available 3G spectrums would be immediately offered for auction and existing operators can participate in this round as well. New players will also be invited but with provision that if new player is successful in bid then they would be eligible to start operation only after March 2013 when moratorium on new licensing, as per Government's agreement with Etisalat, would expire.

More spectrums would be made available for 3/4 G services and offered for auction with the provision that winners of such auction will receive amended licenses and allocated frequencies by March 2013 and as such will be able to start their services thereafter.

In order to ensure professionalism and transparency, it was also decided that a committee of Public Sector stakeholders including representatives from Ministries of Finance, Information Technology, PTA and representative of Frequency Allocation Board would supervise auction process. PTA would devise an appropriate methodology to conduct varying component of this auction as decided under the supervision of the Committee.

Via Express Tribune

Unlike Geo Claims, Blackberry Communication Can’t be Altered

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 01:25 AM PST

I assume that everyone is aware of recent “Memogate” scandal, so instead of narrate all the details, I will go straight to point to uncover those faces who are playing with our national interests to save the names of few.

Geo TV, in it's show "Ajj Kamran Khan Kay Sath", reported that Blackberry communication can be altered, following is what exactly Mr. Ikram Sehgal said in the show:

Blackberry communication can be altered even after the handshake of protocol is carried out, there's no doubt about it.

You can watch the video clip yourself by clicking this link

This claim or Mr. Sehgal is absolutely wrong. According to RIM, no communication between two blackberries can be intercepted. No one can even read it let alone altering this communication.

The whole world knows that security of communication is the only feature that RIM has relied on to build it's business.

When I asked the same question from Mr. Abdullah Saad, the chief of WCCFTech, a security expert, he simply denied the possibility of altering a BBM (Blackberry messenger) communication, saying "if Blackberry communication can be altered ‘after’ the security handshake then it would be the first recorded case in the history of Blackberry".

BBM messages, they are sent using a global PIN key, which can be broken / decrypted only using RIM’s master keys. This is why countries from around the world, in order to access encrypted blackberry messenger information, reach out to RIM to provide them with the master keys to decrypt this information.

To put this in simpler words, you will have to decrypt the communication after message is sent out of blackberry device, alter it while on the go, encrypt it again before it reaches the recipient blackberry device. And you will have to do that without breaking the security key (attached with every BB message).

Now one can't break such kind of encryption without keys unless you are NSA, rather tough for even NSA to achieve.

It won't be out of place to mention here that if altering blackberry communication was so easy then why India, Saudi Arabia, UAE and many other nations are having tough time even monitoring it. At the end they were provided with tools from RIM to monitor BBM traffic, that too only Date Stamps and PIN IDs and not the actual message.

Just to add, BBM data (only the date stamps and PIN IDs, but not the actual message) can be fetched from RIM servers upon government's request.

Only way to temper a BB Device:

Having said all this, there's one way of tempering BBM data, and that's only one possible way of doing it if you have physical access of any BB device. Once you have such kind of access, you can use it the way you want to prove that device has sent/received messages according to your wish.

Additionally, with having physical access to a blackberry device, you can install third party spyware – it shall enable the third party to access the data on a BB device (encrypted or otherwise). This includes information about geo-location, emails, BBM messages and text messages on that particular device.

In case of ambassador Hussain Haqqani, it is not being suggested that his BBM messages were ‘lawfully’ or ‘unlawfully’ accessed and read but that some hacker got access to his phone and used it to fabricate / send the said messages to Mansur Ijaz. If proven in a court of law, this shall be the first such incident of its kind involving RIM.

Get up to 100 % Discount on Indigo Line Rent

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 11:33 PM PST

Read this post in Urdu

wpid download 31 Get up to 100 % Discount on Indigo Line Rent Mobilink is offering it's new Indigo customers to avail up to 100 percent discount on line rent for first three months, if their monthly bill crosses a define threshold level.

All new customers subscribing to a new i-100, i-400, i-900 or i-1500 connection can avail this discount in Line Rent upon reaching the following threshold on their monthly bill:

Discount Details

50% Line Rent Discount: Bill amount of Rs.1,000/-
100% Line Rent Discount: Bill amount of Rs.2,000/-

Terms & Conditions

Bill amount in threshold is before taxes
Subscription will receive the LRD for three bills in total from time of subscription, provided threshold is achieved each time
The offer is only valid for new activations and port-ins
All standard taxes will be applied
This offer is valid only for the individual customers that are not offered any other of Line rent discount/line rent waiver
19.5% Federal/Provincial sales tax on usage and 10% advance tax on bill applies
Using SIMs without proper documentation is a crime
Limited time offer

Qubee Enlightens Lives of Visually Impaired Students

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 11:25 PM PST

Qubee has installed an unlimited package at the "Adult Blind Center" free of cost and has also waived it from monthly line rent as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

"We are pleased to support a non-profit organization as Adult Blind Center, working for the education of blind students," said Chief Marketing Officer Qubee, Hashim Sheikh.

"We believe fast and reliable broadband internet with 24/7 customer care services would help Adult Blind Center to equip and prepare its students for the challenges of the modern age," he added.

Hashim Sheikh informed that Qubee team also met with blind students and class instructors in the Quran class, Braille class, furniture class and candle making class.

Adult Blind Center is a non-profit organization working entirely on donations and through philanthropists programs having good number of students enrolled in it. Qubee team has also handed over a goody packs to Adult Blind Center team, he concluded.

Utrack Business: A New Dimension in Corporate Tracking

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 11:19 PM PST

Ufone is offering UTrack Business, a service specifically designed to cater tracking needs of the corporate sector. UTrack Business provides a complete employee tracking and management solution, allowing businesses to track their work force, ensuring effectiveness and safety, all via a self-care web portal.

Ufone was the first operator to launch such a service for the corporate sector and currently, according to company itself, is leading by highest number of corporate accounts.

Basic Features of UTrack Business are;

location of employees is displayed on a Map within the main web interface,
businesses can track their workforce every 30 minutes and 1 hour.
Multiple hierarchies/accounts can be created under one main account e.g. Head Quarter & regional accounts or manager/team based accounts.

This groundbreaking service comes with an Inventory management solution as part of UTrack Business Add-on; this Business tool allows a single window solution for Inventory Management and Employee Tracking. This add-on is particularly useful for FMCG's and pharmaceutical companies who have a high inventory turn-over rate.

A number of additional features enhance the experience and add further value for corporate clients such as 'Team View' which allows UTrack Business users to see the location of all members simultaneously on the map.

By opting for 'Route View' users will be able to see the route of any individual employee in a single view. If the User wishes to select a specific time and date to track an employee the system will automatically generate the route during that specified time.

Another powerful feature is the 'View Point of Interest' which allows you to add a point of interest on the map, helping you to add your own reference points for better tracking and user experience. A feature for advanced users is the '15 Minutes Tracking' which allows businesses to track their workforce every 15 minutes, rather than 1 hour or 30 minutes. Users will receive an employee Tracking Report via email every 12 hours through the 'Email alert' feature.

Speaking on the occasion Taimur Faiz Cheema, Head of Value Added Services and Mobile Financial Services at Ufone said at Ufone our team strives to keep up with the new age needs of the corporate sector. This initiative is an extremely proud achievement for the organization as it is a first of its kind service being provided by any Telco in the country. It is our aim and promise to the customers that we will continue to provide the most innovative, secured and customer friendly services in the country.

Zong Launched Live Web Support

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:00 PM PST

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With the website revamp recently, Zong has launched it's live online chat support for it's customers. Zong is aiming it's current customers to get their issues resolved while efforts will be made to convert potential customers with whatever help they require.

Given that call helpline calls are not free and due to prolonged wait time, live web support is going to be a treat for customers.

You can connect to Zong's live web support by simply going to Zong.com.pk and clicking on "Chat/Live Support" button on the website.

Live Web Support Features:

Zong live support service is free
You will get your chat log in email after the chat. You can uncheck this option if you do not want to receive chat log in email.
Zong live support gives information details about services, packages, VAS while it also accepts complaints, suggestions and so on.
Zong live support is for non Zong customers too, unlike other networks where they first validate if you are really their customer.
Zong live support is for Zong prepaid customers too, unlike some other operators who offer web support to postpaid customers only.
Zong's live online support is available from 9 AM to 12 AM